The Halo Effect
by AShyBunni
Summary: Airi Harui had heard that he was a monster...she even bore witness to his power. Yet, she had seen a few glimpses of kindness in him. Those acts of kindness was what made Airi generalize his personality more favorably in her eyes. Little did she know, his personality was warping into the monster everyone in the village claimed he was.
1. Chapter 1 - Awe

"The Halo Effect" by AShyBunni

(A/N: This is a rewritten version of "The Halo Effect" by WinglessAngel (also me) that was posted on Lunaescence. The one in Lunaescence was a reader/Gaara fic, but this one I decided to change the main character a bit so she resembles more as the woman who I have seen with him in pictures on Pinterest. I made up her name as well as her backstory, and her friends' names. I'm trying to keep my story as canon as possible with the manga which is why a few scenes in the beginning of this fic might be familiar to Naruto fans. I really like Gaara and when I saw the episodes of Gaara's childhood I have always thought of the "what if" scenario of someone wanting to be nice to him when he was trying so hard to be liked. The rating for the story will be around MA just in case...there will be a couple horrific scenes (well in my eyes) in this story.)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto or the universe he resides in.

Chapter One

Awe

"Here!"

A small group of children kicked a ball around in the playground at Sunakagure. Airi was asked by Jadon if she wanted to play with them, but she was never the active type. Airi was an observer, always taking every piece of information in her little head. She sat against the wall of a building, watching her friends quietly, noticing a little boy with brilliant red hair on a swing holding a teddy bear. Airi looked at him and blinked; by the way he was looking at her friends, it seemed to her that he wanted to go over there and play with them but was too scared to ask. This happened a few times before, and one time, Airi asked her friends if he could join.

 _"Airi, don't you know who he is?" Tara asked, looking at Airi as if she had grown another head._

 _She blinked and shook her head. "No…who is he?"_

 _Jadon pointed at him. "He's Gaara no Suna…a monster…" Airi still look confused as she watched the boy look very uncomfortable, as if overhearing their conversation, leaving shortly after. Airi look at her friends skeptically._

" _Well…if you say so…"_

So here she was, watching her friends and wondering why they were playing near him if he really was a monster. Sure, he has blazing red hair and clear blue eyes, but that doesn't make him a monster. Maybe they were taught that at the ninja academy; Airi wouldn't have known because she did not believe in violence and ninjas had to learn how to fight.

Airi looked down and played with the sand in her hand. 'I'm so bored…but I just don't want to play ball…' she thought. Airi glanced over at the so-called "monster" and smiled a little. 'I want to talk to him…maybe he's not a monster…'

"Pass it!"

Airi got up, dusting the sand off her bottom, and looked at her friends as Jadon kicked the ball onto the roof of a building. He gaped, a bit shocked at what he did. "Oh crap!" Airi went to them and all of them looked up at the ball. "What do we do?"

Cason blinked. "We haven't mastered wall climbing no jutsu yet…"

Airi and her friends then saw the ball start to float, sand holding it and floating downwards. Airi rubbed her eyes, not sure if her mind was playing tricks on her. She looked at where the ball was and saw that it wasn't there anymore. She looked in the direction the ball was headed and saw Gaara holding the ball. Airi stared at him, amazed, wondering how he did that. Her friends were stunned at seeing Gaara.

"Y-you are…" Jadon stuttered, her friends ready to run.

Gaara was holding the ball, trembling.

Tara stammered, "Ga-Gaara…"

Ruri gulped, "It's Gaara no Suna…"

Airi smiled a little and opened her mouth to thank Gaara as Cason turned away and yelled, "R...RUN FOR IT!" Ruri and Jadon grabbed Airi's arms and dragged her away as everyone screamed. Airi blinked blankly, not sure what was going on.

Gaara called out, "Wait!"

With his hand reaching out, Airi saw it; sand starting to form around her friends as well as herself. Airi screamed as the sand pushed Jadon, Ruri, and herself down to the ground. Airi struggled as she watched the sand start to cover her. 'What is going on!?' Airi thought franticly as her friends called for help, sand starting to cover their bodies. Airi screamed again as sand flew to Cason who fell on the ground and looked at the sand as it flew right at him. "Cason!" Airi closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to watch her friend get buried alive. Then she heard a voice as the sand stopped moving.

"Gaara-sama, please calm yourself down!"

Airi opened one eye slowly, seeing a young man holding his arms crossed in front of him as a shield, a gash above his eye and a gash in his arm clearly visible, blood dripping from the wounds. Airi blinked and looked at him then at Gaara as the young boy looked down, Airi's friends groaning under the sand, Cason trembling with fear. Airi kept her grey eyes on Gaara, wondering how he can use sand like that…when he was just about her age. Right then, Airi knew why he was called a monster and she wanted to see what else he could do. She knew he was not a bad monster; he helped bring the ball down. She became intrigued by him, wanting to know more about him.


	2. Chapter 2 - Needing a Backbone

(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to the universe he resides in.)

Chapter Two

Needing a Backbone

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Airi whined as her older brother washed her scrapes from the afternoon's encounter with Gaara. Moshi laughed as he patted the wet cloth gently on her skin. Airi bit her lip and looked up, whimpering and then closing her eyes as a hand pushed against the top of her head, hearing laughter above her.

"I thought you didn't want to be a kunoichi, Airi-chan," her eldest brother, Zion, remarked with a grin, a cigarette between his lips.

Airi sweatdropped and retorted, "You want me to be a second-hand smoker…?"

Zion laughed loudly, leaning towards her and pinched her cheek. "Only if you want to!"

Annoyed, Airi swatted his hand away. "Onii-chan! Cut it out!"

Zion laughed even more, stepping back and grabbed a 25 kg barbell with one hand and pulled the weight to his chest and back down. He takes the cigarette away from his mouth and puffed out a small cloud of smoke away from his siblings. "You're so easy to tease, Airi-chan."

Airi stuck out her tongue as Moshi chuckled and stood up. "Airi, please be careful around Gaara-sama. He's quite powerful…"

Zion snorted, "He's a freak…"

Airi stood up, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance and placed her hands on her hips. "What would you know? You never met him, did you? Have you talked to him? If you do not know him, why are you calling him a freak?"

Zion and Moshi blinked in unison. Zion puts his cigarette in a nearby ashtray. "Oh…? And have you?"

Airi blinked and sweatdropped. "No…but I'm going to tomorrow!" she proclaimed with a grin.

They both yelled simultaneously, "NO!" Her two brothers took a breath and gained their composure. Zion grabbed another cigarette and started to light it, his dark blue eyes fixed on the end of the cigarette as Moshi smiled nervously, his hands before him. "We're just worried about you…he is known to be dangerous…we don't want you to get hurt like today…"

Airi blinked and nodded slowly before walking outside to the porch to feel the cool night air. She understood that her brothers didn't want another family member to be killed by violence. Airi's parents, Hiroki and Ayame Harui, were killed in a mission to save some hostages which in the end turned out to be a trap on the enemy's part. Once news of their deaths reached the children's ears, Moshi quit being a ninja, having been a Chuunin for a couple of years, to take care of the household at the young age of 15. Zion became the main source of income, already a Jounin at the age of 20. Airi was only 4 years old, and that day made her want to take a different path than the path of a shinobi, to find a way of living without resorting to violence. Two years have passed, and life became as peaceful as before her parents' deaths.

Airi sat on the porch stairs and yawned widely, closing her eyes and stretching out her little arms. After rubbing her eyes, she looked up at the sky. 'Oh…a full moon…' Airi thought to herself as she hugged her legs to her chest, staring at the glowing orb in the sky which was surrounded by tiny specks of light against the dark sky. She blinked as she heard quick footsteps. Airi got up quickly and turned around, tripping over the front step and falling on her hands and knees. She crawled rapidly to a sand pillar and hid behind it as best as she could, turning her head to the side to see what was going on. Airi looked surprised to see Gaara no Suna running to Tara's house across from Airi's. Airi leaned toward that direction to be able to hear what they were saying.

She glanced, seeing the timid boy knock on the door and Tara opening the door a bit, but Airi could recognize Tara's voice.

"I'm sorry about earlier…That must've hurt…" Gaara stammered as he held up something Airi couldn't see. "Please use this ointment…"

Airi smiled widely at his kindness, believing he really wasn't the monster her brothers and friends said he was. Then Airi's jaw dropped as she heard Tara's short reply, "….go away, you monster…" With that, the girl slammed the door in his face. Airi frowned at Gaara's rejection and sighed a little. Gaara looked back toward Airi's house for a few seconds before he dropped the ointment and trudged down the street. Airi sat behind the pillar of sand, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping.

After a few minutes, Airi peeked out of her hiding spot and looked around to see if the coast was clear, sighing in relief to find Gaara gone. Airi got up and then stomped over to Tara's and pounded on the door.

"Leave me alone, you monster!"

Airi puffed out your cheeks in anger. "It's Airi!"

Tara opened the door and blinked before sighing in relief. "I thought you were that monster, Gaara no Suna…"

Airi glared at her friend. "He was trying to give you ointment. He said he was sorry! He didn't mean it…why are you calling him a monster when he was trying to help us out?"

Tara blinked in shock and looked annoyed. "Look…he's a monster because he hurt us. I heard from my parents that he could kill people with sand whenever he wanted to!"

Airi ignored whatever Tara was saying, quickly becoming impatient with her behavior and pointed at her. "Have you even tried to talk to him? Maybe he is just a lonely, generous boy looking for friends."

Tara glared back and pointed at Airi. "Oh yeah!? Then you become his friend…you freak…!" She slammed the door once again.

Airi clenched her fists and yelled, "Maybe I will!" Airi stomped off Tara's front porch angrily and marched down the street to find Gaara no Suna.

After calming down a bit while walking through the village, Airi spotted him, walking past a drunken man on his way home. Airi strolled toward him when the man sneered at Gaara who bumped into him. "Watch it, you little bra…" As he said this, he realized that he bumped into the redhead. His eyes grew wide with fear. "…You…you are…"

Airi was about twenty feet away from them as sand swirled around Gaara, the sand flying at the man and buried him alive. A small explosion can be heard from within the small dome of sand, blood flying everywhere. Airi stopped where she was, eyes wide as she heard the man screaming before his voice was silenced. She could feel the blood drain from her face as people started running out into the street, Gaara walking away.

"What…What happened!?"

"I…it's Gaara!"

"H, hey…this guy's dead…!"

Airi felt like she was frozen to that spot, staring at the blood-stained mound of sand highlighted by the moon's rays, seeing a limp hand poking out from the bottom of the mound. She barely comprehended what was going on at that point. She was shocked; she was terrified; Airi witnessed Gaara's first murder…


	3. Chapter 3 - His Terrible Cacoethes

(A/N: I apologize for the delay. Life caught up with me. I also made a couple minor changes, just changing the color of Zion and Airi's eyes to green - Zion had dark blue and Airi had grey. If interested, I can post information of both brothers at the end of the story if you want to know how I see them in my story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything in his universe.)

Chapter Three

His Terrible Cacoethes

It has been a week since Airi had witnessed the murder. She wouldn't eat any meat because the meals reminded her of the bloodied corpse on the ground that dreadful night. Her skin turned a bit paler, not having gone outside at all since then. Airi definitely did not want to go outside because she knew that Tara was right; that she also was scared of Gaara and did not end up befriending him. The young girl sat in the kitchen, closing her eyes tightly, imagining Tara's taunts.

'See? I told you! He's a monster! You should've listened to me! I was right and you were wrong!' Airi gritted her teeth as she heard Tara's laughter in her head.

Moshi was drying the dishes from lunch, turning to his sister, blinking. "Airi? Are you okay?"

Airi snapped out of it and blinked at Moshi in surprise, scratching her head and laughed a little. "Hai! Just…was thinking about why it is always hot here," she fibbed, laughing a bit nervously now, fully aware that Moshi knew she was lying.

Moshi looked at Airi, an eyebrow raised. "Airi, you can tell me anything. I'll listen to whatev-" Moshi stopped, looking at Zion, who just happened to walk in the kitchen, cigarette in mouth, and who just happened to smack Airi upside the head as he passed by her to the refrigerator.

The young girl held her head and yelled, "Zion! That hurt!"

Zion shrugged and chugged down a can of soda. "Made you forget about whatever you were thinking about." Airi blinked, rubbing her head. He did have a point…that bump did make her forget for a moment about her anxiety about seeing Tara and Gaara. Airi glanced at Zion and Moshi and hopped down from her seat, feeling a bit determined to face her fear of humiliation despite feeling nervous at the moment.

"I'm going outside…" Airi said softly as she dragged her feet out the front door. Moshi and Zion looked at each other with a worried glance before returning to whatever they were doing.

"Kids…" Zion muttered as he lit up his cigarette. Moshi sighed softly as he finished cleaning up, sweatdropping.

"You still act like one."

"Oi…"

Airi slowly walked toward the playground, already feeling nauseous from her anticipation of meeting up with Tara. Airi was never one to admit that she made a mistake; she definitely took after Zion when it came to stubbornness. The dark blonde knew this would be hard for her, but this was a good humbling lesson to listen to her friends as well as her brothers. They also told her that Gaara was dangerous, but she never listened.

Airi arrived at the playground, trying to calm her tense body and get rid of her nerves. She blinked as the sun had risen to its highest point in the sky, no sign of clouds in sight. The young girl looked around, a bit puzzled because she saw no children in sight, not even her friends. Then she spotted a shadow by the swings, immediately thinking it to be her friend. Airi wanted to get this over with and have everything go back to normal in which she could hang out and play outside with her friends again during the academy's lunch breaks.

"Tara? I'm…sorry I didn't listen to you...about Gaara no Suna…he is a monster…I just thought he was a shy kid who wanted to have friends….." Airi started to say as the child walked closer to her, his red hair bright against the sun, a carved symbol that means "love" above his left eyebrow. One hand was dragging a worn teddy bear against the sand. Airi were standing right in front of Gaara no Suna, the one person she would never want to be standing in front of! What scared her the most about him at that moment was the look in his eyes: his widened clear blue eyes looking at her with such evil intent, such darkness in his eyes, yet she could also see the loneliness…

Airi gulped and stepped back, biting her lip, feeling her body start to involuntarily shake. Had he heard her calling him a monster? Airi prayed to whatever gods were out there that he didn't.

He started to grin maniacally. "Gaara no Suna…is a monster…you say?"

Airi jumped and trembled uncontrollably in fear. Gaara chuckled darkly as the sand around him rippled about him in the air. Her green eyes widened as Gaara's free hand moved up and pointed at her. "I'll show you what a monster I can be…I want to see your blood on the sand…" Airi screamed as she saw a huge wave of sand coming right at her. Airi closed her eyes tightly, her body completely frozen in fear. The next moment, she heard sand crash into something in front of her, hearing a pained grunt.

"Airi! Get out of here! Run to the Kazekage!" Zion yelled, looking back at his baby sister as she opened her eyes and gasped in horror as blood dripped from his face and arms, his arms up and holding back the sand, though weakening as his arms shook and some sand slid down to the reddened sand by his feet.

Airi shook her head, stammering, "I…I can't leave you, Zion!" Airi did not want to leave her brother at the hands of Gaara who looked very enraged at Zion for interrupting his horrible desire that had yet to be fulfilled.

Zion glared at Airi and spit out his cigarette which was still in his mouth, remembering what caused him to come here alone against someone he had a feeling he could not defeat.

 _Zion shut the front door and slowly walked out into the sunlight. He glanced around, curious, seeing the neighborhood act like a ghost town._

" _That's weird…wonder what's going on to make people stay inside on a nice day…there's no sandstorms coming as far as I know…"_

" _Harui-san!"_

 _Zion turned towards the source of the voice as he was walking down the street, being not too far from his home. A panicked Chuunin was running towards him. Zion stopped walking, confused but interested in what was going on. He had been feeling a bit bored with no exciting missions to do lately. The Chuunin stopped in front of the older man, hands on his knees, panting as he was catching his breath. Zion watched a bit impatiently, his hands in his pockets, smoke gently floating into the air from his cigarette. Suddenly, the Chuunin warned in a worried voice, "Make sure to keep Airi-chan and Moshi-san inside! Gaara no Suna has been seen walking around the playground by the academy. That whole section of the village is in lockdown!"_

 _Zion felt his heart stop and his body grow cold. "What the fuck?! Why didn't you say something sooner, baka!" he yelled angrily at the teenager as he roughly pushed him aside and ran as fast as he could towards the playground. Zion ignored the protests of the unfortunate young man on the ground as the Jounin jumped from rooftop to rooftop to get to his destination. 'Airi…you better not be there…don't you fucking be there…'_

"Airi! Just listen to me and run! You'll get killed if you don't!" He turned back and glared at Gaara, pulling out kunai with explosives attached to them, drawing out a sword after he threw the kunai at the redhead. Gaara didn't move an inch as Airi covered her eyes and shielded her face with her arm from the sand and dust forming from the explosion. When the dust cleared and settled, Airi lowered her arm and opened her eyes to watch Zion running toward a cocoon of sand, ready to slash the cocoon with his sword.

"Zion!" Airi screamed hysterically, wanting to stop him, but her body felt like lead, unable to move anywhere.

Zion yelled, "Just leave, damnit!" He jumped up into the air, his sword above him. Slowly, the sand seeped down to the ground as Gaara looked at him emotionlessly as Zion tried to slash Gaara, a light streak of sand blocking Airi's brother's attack. The Jounin gritted his teeth in frustration, glaring at Gaara as the boy suddenly stared back with wide eyes, seeing the blood on Zion's face and arms, making the Shukaku thirst to see more blood. Gaara also didn't like Zion's protection of the young girl, angered by this sign of love. He slowly held out his hand toward Zion's face, the older fighter's eyes widening.

Zion yelled, "What are you waiting for!? Run, Airi, you brat!" Just as he shouted that, sand started to float around him. Airi stood there petrified, seeing her brother at Gaara's disposal, her face losing color quickly. Airi closed her eyes as tightly as she could and turned around, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. Airi felt tears forming in her eyes as she heard an explosion of sand, imagining her brother's body like that of Gaara's first victim, covered in sand and blood, his limbs poking through the sand tomb. Airi choked back a few sobs as those images appeared in her head, tears starting to blind her.

Airi started looking towards any buildings for refuge, going to the closest building and banging her small fists on the door. "Help me please! Let me in!" She paused to listen for a reply but heard no response or movement from inside. Airi ran to the next house and tried to knock as hard as she could. "Help me! My brother is dying!" She didn't wait for a response as she continued to go to the next building. "Please! Gaara no Suna is killing my brother! Help!" Airi sobbed loudly, her hands numb and her whole body shaking uncontrollably as she realized that the villagers were also terrified and would not help her. She gasped as she saw a shadow moving closer to her from the distance and started running down the street again.

'Please don't be killed, Zion!' Airi thought desperately as she ran through a back alley, not knowing where on earth she were going. All Airi knew was that she had to fulfill her brother's wish and find the Kazekage…Gaara's _his_ son after all!

Airi kept her head down, her eyes still shut tightly as she slammed into a hard surface. She opened her eyes wide as she found herself staring at a wall. She was facing a literal dead-end. Airi slowly turned around to see the ominous shadow come closer to her.

Gaara looked psychotically at his prey. "Love only yourself…And fight for only your sake…" Gaara said with an evil grin as Airi looked at the symbol above his left eye. "I am alone…I won't trust anyone anymore…I won't love…I'm on my own…" He starts to laugh. "That's right…I'm all alone…!"

Airi just stared at him in surprise. 'I was right…he is lonely…' The girl frowned. "You won't love…because you're all alone? You never had any friends…?" she asked quietly, surprised that her fear was turning to sympathy, especially since this boy might have killed her eldest brother. He looked at Airi a bit surprised and glared which made Airi cower back against the wall.

"No one understands me…always calling me monster…everyone giving me _that look_ …even trying to kill me because I am a _monster_ …!" Sand starts to swirl as Gaara thought about how neglected he was from everyone in the village. Airi frowned, feeling bad for not going to him to ask him to be her friend before that night that began his insatiable desire to kill. Maybe if Airi had done that, he would not have been like this…

Airi stared at him before smiling nervously. "I…can be your friend…I was going to ask you days ago…just…please…s-stop hurting people…" She held out her arms a little to each side, as a way to let him know that she was unarmed and defenseless.

He gazed at Airi, astonished to hear someone say such a thing to him. "R-really…?" Airi nodded slowly, her smile a little less strained, seeing a glimpse of that kind face that made her realize one day that he wasn't a monster like everyone said. Then, he frowned deeply and whimpered, holding his head with both hands, looking very conflicted. "Yashamaru…" His eyes widened, remembering that night he accepted being a monster…the night his only friend died in front of him…

Airi took one step toward him, a bit concerned for the redhead. Airi held her breath and stepped back as his kind face changed back with murderous intent.

"I cannot trust anyone…I only love myself and live for myself…" He held out his hand toward Airi. Airi's eyes widened with fear as sand shot right at her. "Die…" Gaara said emotionlessly as he closed his hand into a fist. The last thing Airi remembered before her world turned to darkness was a blur coming from the sky and feeling a close embrace as she felt sand cover her completely.


End file.
